From start-up to Low Earth Orbit in only 3 years!

Did you know there was an Australian built payload on a satellite on the very first launch of Tubular Bells?

That’s right - on 30th June 2021 Virgin Orbit’s 747 carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl took off from Mojave Air and Space Port an carrying Australian Built payload and Launcher One, flying out to a predetermined site over the Pacific Ocean, about 80km (or 50 miles) south of the Channel Islands.

LauncherOne propelled itself towards space, deploying its payload into an orbit approximately 500km above the Earth’s surface. Not only did this mark the second successful launch of Launcher One, but it also was a massive step for a small Aussie start-up called Spiral Blue.

I was amazed and stunned there was a payload from Australia on this launch, I just had to interview the person behind it all - Taofiq Huq. In this episode, I caught up with a Taofiq asking all about how he managed to go from start-up to launching a Space Edge computer payload into Low Earth Orbit in only 3 years! I also complete a dive into how one of Spiral Blue’s payloads was delayed by US regulators over a merger!